Derrick Johnson – SSG negotiated a $13.65 million contract for Derrick with $7.28 million in bonuses. Derrick’s contract exceeded the contract of the player selected ahead of him (Thomas Davis) in Total Dollars, Rookie Pool Value, Escalator, Base Salaries, and Guaranteed Bonuses.

Wes Welker – Originally an undrafted free agent; SSG negotiated a 5-year $18.1 million contract with $10.5 million in bonuses with the New England Patriots. The Patriots traded a 2nd Round and 7th Round draft pick to the Dolphins in exchange for Wes.

Aaron Schobel – After Aaron was selected to the Pro Bowl and finished the 2007 season 3rd in the NFL with 14 sacks, SSG came to terms on a 7-year, $50.25 million contract extension with $20.25 million guaranteed. Executives around the NFL were shocked that Buffalo agreed to extend Aaron’s contract with three years still remaining on a $29.6 million extension signed in 2004.

Ben Leber – Despite having foot surgery and splitting playing time during his contract year in San Diego, SSG negotiated a blockbuster $20 million, 5-year contract for Ben with $7.5 million in bonuses with the Minnesota Vikings.

Terrence Metcalf – After starting only one year at offensive guard for the Chicago Bears in 2005, SSG secured a 6-year contract worth $12.2 million with a $3.33 million singing bonus that enables Terrence to remain with the team of his choice, the Chicago Bears.

Chris Sanders – After only his third NFL season, SSG negotiated a $9,566,000 5-year extension for Chris, which included a $3,250,000 signing bonus and a total package of $ 20 million.

Matt Schobel – While the Cincinnati Bengals failed to allow Matt to showcase his ability to stretch the field from the tight end position, the Philadelphia Eagles realized Matt’s potential. SSG negotiated a 6-year, $7.5 million contract with a $1.8 million signing bonus with the Eagles in 2006.

Jason Webster – Jason was the 4th highest paid Free Agent Cornerback in 2004, despite playing in only 3 games in his contract year due to injuries. SSG negotiated a 6-year, $18 million contract for Jason with a $7 million signing bonus.

Montae Reagor – SSG negotiated an amazing $18.1 million contract with the Indianapolis Colts, even though Montae had only started one game in his first 4-years in Denver. The contract made Montae the highest paid player on the Colts’ defense. On his rookie deal, his contract was greater than the contracts of the players drafted two and three picks before him.

Kenoy Kennedy – In 2005, Kenoy received a 5-year, $14.4 million contract with the Detroit Lions. The contract included a $4.4 million signing bonus, and it represented the largest contract a safety received in Free Agency.

Michael Sinclair – SSG negotiated a $35 million dollar extension in 1999 with the Seattle Seahawks, even though he had two years remaining on his contract with Seattle at the time. Michael received $8.4 million in his first six months of his new contract, which included $8 million in bonuses.

Charles Tillman - SSG negotiated a 6-year, $41.5 million contract extension with $18.1 million guaranteed that keeps the promising cornerback with the Chicago Bears for the remainder of his career. The national media was surprised that Charles received a significantly larger contract than his teammate, Nathan Vasher, because Vasher has gone to the Pro Bowl and Charles has not.

Ty Warren – SSG reached an agreement with the New England Patriots on a 5-year, $36 million dollar contract extension, with $17.5 million guaranteed, despite Ty having two years left on his rookie contract. Ty is the only other Patriots player in franchise history to have his contract extended with two years left, the other player - Tom Brady.

Adam Carriker – The contract SSG negotiated for Adam Carriker, 13th pick in the first round of the 2007 NFL Draft, represented the largest percentage increase for any contract in the first round – a 22% increase over the same pick in the 2006 NFL Draft. The 5-year, $14.5 million deal included $9.3 million guaranteed.

2007 SSG 1st and 2nd Round Contracts – The contracts negotiated for 1st Round pick Adam Carriker and 2nd Round pick Kevin Kolb represented the largest percentage increases over the previous year’s picks than every other player selected in the 1st or 2nd Round of the draft. Most agencies are built on egos with each agent negotiating, recruiting and acting on his own. The SSG team approach benefits the players because all of the agents work together on every contract. This fact allows us to obtain the top contracts for our draft picks year and year out.

Active Contracts Negotiated:7
Champ Bailey
Boss Bailey
Paul Johnson (Georgia Tech Head Coach)
This lawyer has a lot of irons in the fire besides Sports representation.
Sitton's contract could be very late compared to others drafted around him.

Alot of it probably had to do with the high number of UDFA we brought in for workouts, thus in reality letting the coaching staff have a look at the maxium of 7 extra players.. or 87 on the roster in total.. get through minicamps.. do the roster analysis and come up with the final roster of 80 allowed players to take into training camp..

My guess, the coaching staff has a couple of bubble players to drop of the roster so when they start to sign these picks.. they know exactly whom needs to go when.

Another possible advantage to waiting, is not letting these drafted rooks relax and possibly slack off between now and training camp.. having them focus on staying out of trouble and probably keeping themselves on their toes for the start of training camp.

Other than that.. the Packers are drawing interest on any of the signing bonuses that is sitting in their bank verus the players bank.. interest on a couple of million for an extra month probably doesn't hurt the bottom line at all either..

It isn't like any of these players are going to hold out.. pretty much slotted deals.. give or take terms and maybe up front money.

Like most everyone else I am no expert in the ways of NFL player contracts.
With that said I am sure part of the reason they have not signed the lower round draft picks (5-7) is that they want to sign the higher picks 1st. Everyone is slotted and if you give too much to the players on the bottom it only pushes the floor up until you have no room for the higher picks.
The delay on the higher picks is possibly to see what players from other teams sign for. that will bracket our picks and take away some of the leverage from the player and his agent.
Once they start, things will go pretty quickly.

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"Rookie talks may heat up next week
By Rob Demovsky • • July 2, 2008

The Green Bay Packers haven't signed any of their draft picks, but some headway should be made soon."
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I posted an article on packerforum this morning concerning lack of signing Packer draftees by Rob Domovsky-Sports reporter for the Green Bay Press-Gazette."

In my opinion All signings will happen in time for Packer training camp.This article is the only word about Packer draftee's signing I have seen so far this off season.
The Packers don't even have a first round draft choice. Those negotiations of first rounder are the hard negotiations.

I remember the late 70's and 80's very well. I'd go out in the front yard with the nerf football and pretend to beat the Bears just to make myself feel better about the Packers dropping another game. But, you have to admit, even through the down years, GB could split with Chicago or Minny it seemed like no matter how bad it was.